OVERCOMING WRITER’S BLOCK: Thanks, Mom & Dad, for the Inspiration!

 

By Lisa Malice, Ph.D.

Like any writer, I suffer from a bit of writer’s block every now and then—and not just when I’m working on a story or a novel. I’d been puzzling over what to write for this month’s Writers Who Kill blog post for a couple of days with nothing interesting, informative, or inspirational coming to mind. Granted, I wasn’t really focused on the task as I arrived at my family’s lake house (“The Cabin”), a gorgeous remote property that has been in the family for four generations. Surrounded by trees, loons, fish, cattails, sun, water, gentle breezes, and memories of happy times with family, writing was the last thing on my mind.

Still, when it came time to buckle down and write this month’s post, my message eluded me. Staring at my computer screen, I had to get some words on the page, so I started typing the file name at the top of the page—"WWK – Lisa Malice – August 9…” Suddenly, I had my inspiration—August 9 is my parents’ 70^th wedding anniversary. Both Mom and Dad played a critical role in my success as a crime writer, so much so that I dedicated my debut novel, Lest She Forget, to my parents. Their influence and encouragement in my life laid the foundation for my success as a mystery/thriller author.

This is my favorite photo of Mom and Dad from their wedding day--

both happy and excited after the reception and heading out for their honeymoon.

Like many of you, I suspect (because that's what we crime writers do—we suspect everyone), I grew up surrounded by mysteries because my mother, a voracious reader who taught me to love books, too, was passionate about the genre. Our basement shelves were jammed with books by the masters of British Mystery—Agatha Christie, P.D. James, Ngaio Marsh, and others. 

Mom reading on the dock of the family cabin (circa 1967). The look on her face suggests 

she didn't appreciate her attention being diverted from whatever tale she was reading.

But my first exposure to mysteries was listening to Sunday night radio program that Mom always tuned into during the summer evening drives home from the family cabin—The CBS Radio Mystery Theater  I loved these tales so much that I pushed my way past my three sisters and one brother to the front seat of our station wagon to hear every delicious word.

The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie, which featured a different sleuth every week, quickly replaced The Wonderful World of Disney during the rest of the year. Mom and I rooted for Columbo, McCloud, and MacMillan & Wife to catch the bad guys every week, though my favorite was—and still is—The Snoop Sisters with Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick.  

 

As a teenager, I couldn’t get enough mystery in my life without reading, so I pulled Mom’s mysteries off the bookshelves and read them all. When her library was exhausted, I fell under the spell of Sherlock Holmes's, fascinated by his keen abilities of observation and deduction to identify a murderer, his or her motive, and weapon of choice. I didn’t have a lot of free time in college to read for fun (classes, studying, and partying consumed my waking hours). But after graduation, I jumped back into reading with enthusiasm for the many American women writing bestselling and award-winning mysteries and thrillers, such as Sara Paretsky, Lisa Scottoline, Sue Grafton, and Mary Higgins Clark. My own writing is inspired by these women, especially as founding members of Sisters in Crime, an organization conceived by women to help women crime writers succeed in what was then (1984) very much a man’s world.

One of the greatest perks of being a crime fiction writer is meeting up with those authors 

whose work inspired me to follow my own publishing dreams, such as Sue Grafton. 

Although my father was a big reader, too, his taste in books didn’t mesh with mine. As an accomplished businessman, Dad was smart and goal-driven, and as such, his influence on my writing career is in the inspiration and support he always offered for me to follow my dreams. We could do anything, he told me and my siblings, as long as we knew what we wanted and worked hard to earn it. (He knew what he was talking about—Dad went off to college with only $5 in his pocket. He graduated with honors and a 2^nd Lieutenant’s commission in the United States Air Force. After his tour was over, he got an MBA, then worked his way up the ladder in business, retiring as a Senior VP for a nation-wide grocery company.)

Dad worked his way through college, partly on a Air Force ROTC scholarship. As a newly commissioned officer, Dad trained in Texas on small bombers, but later flew for Strategic Air Command.

Dad put his philosophy into action with me and my softball team, a women’s league team populated with star-athletes from my high school—setting a team goal to win the state championship within four years of playing together. As head coach and manager, he put in the hours with the team as we practiced and played hard. We won our city championship that first year but were eliminated from the Minnesota State Women’s Softball Championship after losing our first two games. Each year we worked and played harder, so by year three, we finished second behind a rival team of equally young athletic teenagers. My team won the state title in our fourth year, fulfilling our team goal and Dad's vision.

That's me front row, second one on the left. Dad is in the back row, far right. 

As team manager, he scored us a great corporate sponsor, County Seat, 

a clothing company and subsidiary of SuperValu Stores, where Dad served the Director/VP of Retail Development.

So, as I set out to write my first book, I knew that it would take time and hard work. I would need to put in a lot of hours and look for support of other authors along the way—teammates, in spirit. I never gave up, never stopped pushing myself to reach that goal of being a traditionally published crime fiction author.

Sadly, Mom and Dad passed within six months of each other the year before I started my writing journey. They didn’t have the opportunity to celebrate with me when my hard work and love of mystery, thrills, and suspense paid off in a publishing contract, a successful book launch, a month-long stay on Amazon’s new thriller bestseller list, and an international award for Best New Voice in Fiction. But they were there, inside me, always with me along the way, in my heart and my mind.

So, thank you Mom and Dad for always being with me when I need inspiration, including this blog post! And happy 70^th Anniversary! Love ya always!

Let’s hear from you! Authors, what or who has inspired your writing over the years? Readers, who influenced you and your love of mysteries?